


Sprained Ankle, Strong Love

by aintweproudriff



Series: IRL 'verse [3]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: But they're all adorable, Davey's a mom friend, Jack is hurt, Multi, The ending makes little to no sense, jack doesn't always have enough food, mentions of food/not eating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 04:55:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11097342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aintweproudriff/pseuds/aintweproudriff
Summary: Jack gets hurt, and Davey gets worried and a little protective.Takes place after Kings of Queer Prom





	Sprained Ankle, Strong Love

**Author's Note:**

> Mom friend Davey gives me life. 
> 
> Also I suck at titles aaaaa

David walked into his second hour class, newspaper, on a Monday morning.  
He had waited for two days to see his boyfriends again; he knew that that wasn't long, or even particularly difficult, but it felt torturous.  
It was especially bad he had felt a knot in his stomach that told him that Jack was getting into trouble. He tried to ignore it, and even made a point of not texting Jack to ask if anything was wrong. 

-

When he caught sight of Jack and Crutchie, though, sitting by their computers, he realized that he should have paid attention to his intuition. 

There they were, Crutchie holding Jack's hands, and Jack wincing in pain. 

"What happened?" David rushed over. "Are you okay?" He grabbed Jack's right hand with his left, and Crutchie's with his right. All six of their hands ended up resting on Jack's knee. 

"I'm fine," Jack croaked. "I sprained my ankle, and it's pretty bad, but I'll deal."

David stood up and kissed each of them on their foreheads.  
Taking off his backpack, he asked, "How did that happen?"

"He wouldn't tell me until you got here," Crutchie's eyes followed David, "so it must be good."

"Or bad," sighed David. 

"You're overreacting," Jack accused, and began his story. "Last night, I went out with Race and Spot."

David raised his eyebrows. He loves Race and Spot, really, but he wasn't sure how much he trusted them. 

"We got food and stuff, and it was lots of fun," Jack smiled. "Eventually, we got back to my place, and I stepped out of the car. Well, only I forgot that there was a curb there. My foot went in the wrong place, and it caught the curb funny. And then I was on the ground, and my ankle was all messed up."

Crutchie sighed sympathetically. 

"I asked Spot," Jack continued, "and he said it's probably sprained. And Spot's a lifeguard, so I trust him on this."

Crutchie kept nodding along sadly to Jack's story, but David glared. 

"You'd better not walk on it too much," David instructed. 

"I'm fine to walk, it just hurts a little," Jack protested, but even as he pulled his chair closer to the computer, he winced. 

-

David, normally kind and even timid to speak to people he didn't know, felt no sense of guilt at telling Jack what to do.  
He knew Jack and Crutchie understood that if he was cross with them, it was because he wanted them safe. 

-

The first time something like this had happened was when David had learned that Jack didn't always have enough food.  
His now-boyfriend, then-friend had offhandedly mentioned that he hadn't eaten a full meal in over a week, and David paled. 

"What? Why not?" David asked before he could stop himself. 

"Not enough money to buy a full meal," Jack said as if it was obvious. "But I don't need to eat meals if I've got enough snacks."

Only moments later, David found himself full-on screaming. "You've got to eat! And eat meals! Don't say anything," he pointed at Jack. "I'm going to take you got the store, and I'm going to help you figure out how to buy meals."

Later that day, he texted Jack.  
"Hey, sorry if it freaked you out earlier. I've never had to think about missing a meal, so it scares me that that's be a reality for you. I really want you to be okay, and it scares me that you might not be. That fear kind of became anger. If you need any help, you ask me, okay?"

-

David knew that Jack understood, but he chose to make sure. 

So as he sat down, he kissed Jack's cheek.  
"I love you," he whispered, "and I want you to be safe and healthy." He wrapped his arm around Jack's shoulder. "So you stay off that fucking ankle."

"Thanks, Dave. But I can walk just fine."

Crutchie poked his head under David's arm.  
"What are we talking about?" 

"Not much," Jack answered. David's just being a protective mom."

David glared, and Crutchie pecked both of them on their cheeks. 

"I want you off the crutch too, Jackie. I'll make you use my crutch."

Jack laughed, "I'm not using your crutch."

-

"Hey lovebirds," they heard Medda calling. "Stop cuddling over there and one of you come move these boxes for me."

"I'll get it, Miss Medda!" Jack replied. 

David stood up, and pushed Jack back into his chair.  
"No he won't!"

As David approached Medda, he gestured back at his boyfriends.  
"Don't let Jack do anything," he told his teacher, who nodded and smiled. 

-

"So what if I get a little protective?" David whispered to himself as he carried the boxes down the hallway. "Sometimes I think those two need some protecting," he smiled sadly, "and maybe a little mothering. It's love, all the same."

He dropped the boxes in Medda's other classroom, and paused. The warm feeling from his stomach rose to his cheeks, forcing out a small laugh. 

Yeah, it was love. Tough love, maybe, but strong love.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Can you tell I was listening to Seasons of Love when I wrote the ending?  
> Anyways, if you liked it, please leave kudos, comments, or come talk to me on Tumblr @javidblue or @spot-and-all-his-cronies


End file.
